It’s so popular that people asked us to do it again,” said Lisa Kauffman, organizer of the trolley Christmas Caroling on Saturday, December 15 in Gulfport. Now in its the third year, the city of Gulfport also helped with the organization and publicity, she said. The Gulfport trolley picked up Kauffman, her granddaughter, her boyfriend, a few close friends and neighbors, including additional children at her home on Shore Boulevard, and then met the first group of dozens of carolers in front of the Casino. People could get on and off the trolley along the local route or wait at the Casino for a pick up every 30 minutes from 6:30 to 9 p.m., she said. Kauffman had printed songbooks and hand-held percussion instruments for participants to borrow. New this year “the city put a sign out for me on the marquee in front of the Casino” and they put a notice in the Gabber, she said. “When I was giving out the flyers, one gentleman told me, ‘This is the event I look most forward to in the holiday season,’” she said. “I thought, OK God, I’m going my job. It really made me feel good. We’re creating a Gulfport tradition.”
Lisa Kauffman, left, organized the third-annual Christmas Caroling in Gulfport trolley ride-along on Saturday, December 15. Here, Kauffman and her spirited starter group get into the mood with hand-held percussion instruments as they ride the city’s trolley from her home to the Casino to pick up the first large group of participants.
Some of the initial carolers gathered in the living room of organizer Lisa Kauffman, center and to the left of Santa, while they waited for the city’s trolley to pick them up before traveling to the Casino where a crowd of dozens waited to join in on the third-annual Caroling in Gulfport mobile singing experience. Pictured from left to right, front row are Kason England, Dreama Grace Kauffman, Santa Claus, Nehemiah Toth and Adelynn Naff. In the back row are Bill Salapow, Ken England, Jody Robinson, Kauffman, Lucy the doggie, Ezra Toth, Daman Toth, Kimberly Naff, Nina Toth and Kyle Naff.
